A mobile telecommunication system may include control nodes and access nodes interconnected by a transport network. The control nodes may include one or more entities (e.g., mobile switching centers, media gateways, mobility management entities, serving gateway support nodes, radio network controllers, base station controllers, etc.) that transfer/receive voice and/or data to a circuit-switched and/or packet-switched network. The access nodes may include one or more entities (e.g., base stations, etc.) for transmitting voice and/or data to user equipment and the control nodes. The entities of the access nodes may connect to the entities of the control nodes to establish communication services.
The transport network may include a network of entities that connect the control nodes to the access nodes. For example, when the transport network is a packet-switched network (e.g., via an Internet protocol (IP)-based transport or a Multiprotocol Label Switching (MPLS)-based transport), the transport network may include one or more network devices (e.g., routers) interconnected by links (e.g., wired, wireless, and/or optical connections). The routers may be interconnected using a variety of topologies (e.g., a hierarchical topology, a ring topology, a mesh topology, etc.).
For example, when a base station in the access nodes connects with the control nodes, each connection is established via the base station being provided a route through the transport network, via one or more routers. The provided route depends on the transport network topology. When there are faults, failures, or degradations in the transport network, such faults, failures, or degradations may be detected by a base station as IP packet losses, increased latency or delay, and/or increased jitter or delay variation.
A failure or degradation may arise in the transport network due to router failure, link failure, and temporary overload due to poor dimensioning of the transport network. Although a problem may be detected by the base station, the base station is unable to identify a source of the problem (e.g., a failing link(s), a failing router(s), etc.). This may be especially true when the transport network is leased from a transport network provider that is external to an owner (e.g., a mobile operator) of the access nodes and/or the control nodes. In such cases, physical access to the transport network's routers may be impossible. A contract between the transport network provider and the mobile operator may be governed by a service level agreement (SLA) stipulating performance levels to be maintained (e.g., defined by packet loss rate, latency, and/or jitter).